Once upon a time, in the fair kingdom of Dragonbane, there lived a brave and valiant knight and his cowardly squire. The knight was known far and wide across the kingdom as one Dragonbane's greatest warriors and, following his king's footsteps, slayed many a foul creature. His squire, however, was known to be a bumbler and too afraid to engage in any sort of combat. After many failed attempts for his cowardly squire to prove his worth, the knight had grown tired and begun thinking about simply giving up on him. However...
News came of a powerful warlock which had come to threaten Dragonbane's kingdom. The warlock, or so the commoners claimed, had razed several villages by the simple wave of a hand and had called forth demons and evil spirits with the flick of his tongue. The stories caused all but the most valiant knights to hide away, but the knight, fearing none, accepted the king's call. Seeing it as a final opportunity for his squire to prove his worth, the knight took shield and sword into hand and led him into battle.
The knight and his squire travelled across the kingdom for three days and three nights before they stumbled upon a small camp set up along the forest's edge. The knight, seeing no better opportunity than this, laid his sword in his squire's hands and ordered him to slay the warlock as he rest. Defiant at first, the squire gave into the knight's demands and approached the camp. When the squire entered the camp, dragging the sword along with him, he came upon the warlock sitting and eating.
With a great smile and an extravagant bow, the warlock welcomed the squire to his camp. But of course, the warlock also knew what the squire had been ordered to do, and better yet, knew the squire. He knew him too afraid to follow through, and, moreover, too afraid not to listen. Like any coward, the warlock knew he would easily give way to him.
The warlock brought the squire in close and whispered deep into his ears his plan. The squire was to gain his knighthood and greater still, a reputation that would challenge even the great king Dragonbane himself. The cowardly boy who none thought would succeed, ridding the kingdom of a great evil that even his knight fell to. The thought tickled the squire's interest.
Some time later, the boy returned to the knight, the warlock's severed head in hand. The knight, dumbfounded, but filled with pride, embraced the boy in joy. When the knight released his hold on the boy, he found a dagger hilt deep in his chest. The knight, with his last breath fleeting from his lips, stared eye-deep into the cold eyes of his cowardly squire and died.
Th warlock stood next to the boy, his head firmly reattached to his body, and tittered a gleeful cry. He cleaved the knight's head from his body and molded it after his own, presenting it to the boy as proof of what he had done. And with a great smile and extravagant bow, the warlock left the kingdom of Dragonbane, never to return.
The squire returned before the king and presented him the head of the "warlock" and the sword of his fallen knight. The squire, for his act of bravery against a foe of great evil in a dire situation, was granted knighthood by the king and became known far and wide as Sir Barnaby, the Vigilant, the greatest knight of Dragonbane's kingdom.
[The following is one of the few other tales of Barnaby, the Dastard]
As king Dragonbane's daught came of age, Sir Barnaby, hailed for all his victories throughout the years and still praised for his slaying of the warlock, sought the hand of the fair princess. He offered to her a golden crown, taken from the stomach of a dreadful ogre. He sang to her a ballad so sweat and moving, that they would lure the Sirens themselves. He presented them a riddle so great, that neither the king nor the princess could answer. He had given the three requirements presented by the king and her hand was to be his.
However, the princess refused. She refused to marry Sir Barnaby despite his gift, despite his song, and despite his cunning. She had disliked the knight and trusted him little, stating that a fox could too seem brave, entrusting, and crafty. And with that being it, Sir Barnaby was turned away.
Heartbroken and filled with anger and envy, Sir Barnaby took up shield and sword and rode away from the kingdom in whose name he fought. With a wrathful cry, the knight swore vengeance against the princess and disappeared into the wilderness.